1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of electrical connectors and plugs, including without limitation so-called “modular jacks”.
2. Description of Related Technology
As electronic device integration increases, and the desire to produce progressively smaller and more compact devices increases also, there is a need to make components perform multiple functions, thereby obviating the need for additional components which can only perform a single function. This is especially true in the case of computerized devices, wherein not only PCB real estate is at a premium, but also is cost and performance.
Electrical connectors are one very common component in such devices. These may comprise, for example, connectors for LANs, printers, USB interfaces, Firewire interfaces, etc. Once common type of connector is the “modular jack”, commonly used for e.g., telephones (RJ11) and data networking (RJ45).
Numerous approaches to electrical connectors, including without limitation so-called “modular jacks”, exist. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,773,302 entitled “Advanced microelectronic connector assembly and method of manufacturing”, 6,773,298 entitled “Connector assembly with light source sub-assemblies and method of manufacturing”, 6,769,936 entitled “Connector with insert assembly and method of manufacturing”, 6,585,540 entitled “Shielded microelectronic connector assembly and method of manufacturing”, 6,471,551 entitled “Connector assembly with side-by-side terminal arrays”, 6,409,548 entitled “Microelectronic connector with open-cavity insert”, 6,325,664 entitled “Shielded microelectronic connector with indicators and method of manufacturing”, 6,224,425 entitled “Simplified microelectronic connector and method of manufacturing”, 6,193,560 entitled “Connector assembly with side-by-side terminal arrays”, 6,176,741 entitled “Modular Microelectronic connector and method for manufacturing same”, 6,159,050 entitled “Modular jack with filter insert”, 6,116,963 entitled “Two-piece microelectronic connector and method”, 6,062,908 entitled “High density connector modules having integral filtering components within repairable, replaceable submodules”, 5,587,884 entitled “Electrical connector jack with encapsulated signal conditioning components”, 5,736,910 entitled “Modular jack connector with a flexible laminate capacitor mounted on a circuit board”, and 5,069,641 entitled “Modular jack”, each of the foregoing patents incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, disclose various approaches to including electronic and/or integrated circuit components within such connectors. United States Patent Application Pub. No. 20030194908 to Brown, et al. published Oct. 16, 2003 entitled “Compact Serial—To Ethernet Conversion Port”, also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses an Ethernet-enabled connector having LAN functionality.
Despite the foregoing, prior art approaches to connectors (including modular jacks) are very “discrete” in nature, often with many components (including integrated circuits) being disposed separate from the connector, such as on the associated PCB.
Furthermore, such prior art approaches uniformly utilize two sets of terminals or contacts for the connector; i.e., an ingress/egress, and an egress/ingress, that allow electrical signals or current to be passed from one device to another via the connector. For example, a typical modular jack has one set of terminals to mate with the modular plug, and a second set to mate with the PCB on which the connector is mounted. These many terminals (which may be ten or more in each set) not only require additional labor and handling (such as forming, soldering, etc.), but also act as miniature antennas, and radiate EMI or noise if not properly shielded.
New advances in shorter-range radio frequency data interfaces (such as UWB, WiFi, and Bluetooth) allow for significant data rates over wireless interfaces. This is especially true of UWB, since the frequency bandwidth is proportional to the data carrying capability of the interface. Such interfaces are also ideal for short range applications.
Furthermore, the prior art has treated “network” functions such as servers, etc. as necessarily being carried out by discrete or separate entities, such as a stand-alone server or blade. With the increasing speed, capability, and level of IC integration now available, an entire computer system can essentially reside on a chip (see, e.g., Motorola/Freescale MPC 8560 “PowerQUICC” SoC devices), thereby further allowing many functions to be integrated and physically and logically co-located.
Great strides have also been made in so-called “user customizable” processors, which allow the user (designer) to select not only core configuration parameters and features, but also add customized extensions to the processor to make it particularly adapted to certain purposes (such as Viterbi decode, FFTs, Turbo coding, etc.). Seminal in this technology is the ARC microprocessors and related peripherals (ARC International or Elstree, Herts, UK), as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 6,862,563 entitled “Method and apparatus for managing the configuration and functionality of a semiconductor design: incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. These devices represent the state of the art in terms of optimization; i.e., lowest gate count and power consumption (and die size) for a given performance (e.g., speed) requirement. Such optimization allows, inter alia, embedded devices to have exceptionally low power consumption and hence reduced power requirements. Such devices also reduce much less heat, since they have a reduced gate count (and hence power dissipation within their circuits).
Hence, what is needed is an improved connector apparatus that leverages recent advances in technology to allow for much higher levels of spatial and logical integration, reduced power consumption for mobile and embedded applications, as well as eliminating deleterious sources of noise or EMI within electronic or computerized devices.